Journal article
Eucalyptus pellita substantially outperforms Acacia mangium in tropical savannah ecosystem of Australia, but strategies are needed to maintain soil nutrients
FJ Hutapea, L Volkova, DS Mendham, CJ Weston
Forest Ecology and Management | ELSEVIER | Published : 2024
Abstract
Eucalyptus pellita and Acacia mangium are widely planted in the tropics and managed over five-to-fifteen-year rotations for wood and wood products. This study compares the growth of routine plantings of A. mangium with trial plantings of E. pellita and nearby native forests across six broadly distributed locations on Melville Island, northern Australia. In addition to tree growth measurements, litter mass and chemical properties, and topsoil (0–10 cm) physical and chemical parameters were assessed. Melville Island has a pronounced seasonal rainfall and soils that range from loamy sand to sandy loam textures; across the sites sampled soils comprised 65–85% sand and 8–16% clay. Across our site..
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Funding Acknowledgements
This research, through the project "Maximising northern tropical forestry-linking communities and cutting-edge technology", is funded by the CRC for Developing Northern Australia (CRCNA) supported by the Cooperative Research Centres Program, an Australian Government initiative. Authors acknowledge the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics, Northern Territory (NT) Government, Australia for providing the contours and DTM data over Melville Island under project objectives for the Research Agreement between NT Government and CRCNA. Authors also acknowledge Glen Samsa for providing important information regarding plantation on Melville Island and site history. Authors also thank Quinten Pope, Josh Mitchell, Hanna Lilli-crap, Donna Snell, Jess White, and Marbine for their supports during data and sample collections on Melville Island. We also thank Najib Ahmady, Dr. Lisa Wittick, and Fedor Torgovnikov for their assistance during sample analysis. We also thank Dr. Julian Di Stefano for his assistance in statistical analysis. Freddy Jontara Hutapea acknowledges the Melbourne Research Scholarships from the University of Melbourne.